(g) College Preparatory Elective Courses, Including CTE Guidelines

One unit required. This requirement may be fulfilled by one yearlong course or two one-semester courses, as described below. The intent of the college preparatory elective requirement is to encourage prospective university students to fill out their high school programs with courses that meet the following objectives:

To strengthen general study skills, particularly analytical and critical thinking, expository writing and oral communications; and,

To provide an opportunity to begin work in academic and career technical disciplines that could lead directly to a major program of study at either the California State University (CSU) or the University of California (UC).

Courses approved for the elective requirement will have at least one prerequisite or co-requisite or be an advanced course designed for the 11th or 12th grades.

This requirement may be satisfied in one of two ways: completion of one additional UC-approved "a-f" subject course (option 1), or completion of a course that has been specifically approved for the "g" elective area (option 2). Each option is described below.

Option 1: Completion of one additional UC-approved "a–f" course

Courses listed on a school's course list in the "a-f" subject areas that exceed the minimum requirement for a subject area, such as a fourth year of UC-approved mathematics or a third year of language other than English, will fulfill the elective requirement. These courses must have a prerequisite or co-requisite, or be an advanced course intended for 11th and 12th grade students, with the exception of certain laboratory science courses that are intended for 9th and 10th grade students, such as earth science, physical science and the first year of an integrated science sequence (also see Special Note on Laboratory Science below).

Special Notes:

Laboratory Science: The California State University will accept one "g" science course in partial fulfillment of its two-unit laboratory science ("d") requirement.

Language Other than English: An acceptable elective course must be in the same language used to satisfy the "e" requirement; in other words, the elective course must have the equivalent of two years of the language as a prerequisite. Students also may present a second language other than English but must complete the equivalent of the second year of the language in order to fulfill the elective requirement.

Option 2: Completion of a course that has been specifically approved for the "g" elective area

These courses are expected to meet standards of quality similar to those required for the "a-f" requirements. They should present material at a sufficient depth to allow students to achieve mastery of fundamental knowledge that prepares them for university work. Students are expected to engage in substantial reading and writing, and consistently apply the critical thinking, analytical reasoning and problem-solving skills that they will need to be well prepared for university-level coursework.

Subject-specific guidelines for courses to be approved for the "g" elective requirement

Career Technical Education (CTE): Courses that connect academic content knowledge with practical or work-related applications may be approved. Such courses must satisfy the following conditions:

Provide high-quality, challenging curricula that use and advance concepts and skills in the "a-f" subject areas; and,

Integrate academic knowledge with technical and occupational knowledge; and,

Include tasks that are rich in opportunities to develop knowledge of tools, processes and materials; to engage in problem-solving and decision-making; and to explain what one is doing and why.

An approved CTE course should demonstrate a close connection with the academic curriculum by including the requirement that there be at least one prerequisite or co-requisite, or be an advanced course designed for the 11th or 12th grades. Approved courses may be designed to emphasize academic concepts using career-related applications to make ideas accessible to students. Conversely, these courses may be designed using career and technical applications to provide an entry point for understanding theoretical or technical aspects of an academic discipline.

An approved CTE course may include relevant applications of academic content outside the classroom through work-based learning, challenging hands-on projects, service learning and/or project-based learning that connect with the academic curriculum. It may utilize alternative assessments such as work products and/or project exhibitions in addition to more traditional forms of assessment such as unit exams, midterm and final exams, reports, and culminating projects that may include both an oral presentation and a written report.

Illustrative examples of CTE courses that are potentially approvable include:

Business courses that incorporate the basic principles of economics;
Building and construction courses that explicitly include college preparatory mathematics and/or physics;
Health science courses that incorporate essential principles of biology, anatomy and/or chemistry.

Other examples of approved CTE courses can be found at http://www.ucop.edu/a-gGuide/ag/welcome.html.

Computer Science: A computer science course is acceptable if it fulfills the following objectives:

Teaches students to express algorithms in a standard language;
Requires students to complete substantial programming projects;
Involves the study and mastery of various aspects of computer architecture (e.g., how computers deal with data and instructions, the internal components of a computer and the underlying computer logic).

English: Courses must require substantial reading with frequent and extensive practice in writing that is carefully evaluated and criticized, as noted in the "b" requirement. Courses in journalism, speech and debate are acceptable electives if they meet these general requirements in reading and writing. Semester-long courses, such as creative writing, poetry, mythology and others also may be accepted. Courses may be multidisciplinary, drawing knowledge from two or more disciplines, such as Fiction and Film, Ecoliteracy, Literature and World Religions.

History: Courses must enable students to develop an understanding of broad historical themes (e.g., world history, political history, economic history) and should provide an understanding of the human past, including its relation to the present. Courses should develop students' ability to think critically, to evaluate historical data and to analyze and synthesize evidence. All history courses should require extensive reading and writing. Courses may focus on specific regions, movements or eras but should carefully avoid isolating particular groups from the larger society of which they are a part. Examples of approved courses include: Gender in U.S. History, The U.S. Since 1945 and U.S. History Through Film.

Laboratory Science: In this subject area only, 9th and 10th grade courses are often accepted as electives. Approved courses must cover topics from the biological, earth or physical sciences and include laboratory and/or field activities. Advanced 11th and 12th grade courses must provide opportunities for students to integrate and extend their understanding of basic science through focused courses in areas such as agricultural science, astronomy, biotechnology, environmental science, medical arts and veterinary science. A terminal course designed only to meet graduation requirements is not an acceptable science elective.

Social Science: Courses must be in one of the social sciences such as anthropology, economics, geography, philosophy, political science, psychology or sociology. Courses may be multidisciplinary in nature, drawing knowledge from two or more of these fields, such as Latin American Studies, African American Economics and Comparative World Religions. Course objectives should include as many of the following as are applicable to the field:

An understanding of the development and basic features of major societies and cultures;
An examination of the historic and contemporary ideas that have shaped our world;
An understanding of the fundamentals of how two or more political and economic systems function;
An examination of the nature and principles of individual and group behavior;
A study of social science methodologies;
A comparison of cultures and perspectives.

In order to develop students' ability to think critically, to evaluate ideas and information, and to analyze and synthesize qualitative and quantitative evidence (in the laboratory or in the field), social science courses must include extensive reading and written and oral exposition. Courses that are designed to meet state-mandated social studies graduation requirements are acceptable provided that they meet the above criteria. Courses with applied, service or career-related content, such as Community Service: A Sociological Perspective, are acceptable if those components are used to augment the strong academic content of the course.

Visual and Performing Arts (VPA): Advanced courses in the Visual and Performing Arts can be approved to meet the "g" elective requirement if they address the five component strands of the state VPA standards. Advanced courses should enable students to understand and appreciate artistic expression and, where appropriate, to talk and write with discrimination about the artistic material studied. Courses devoted to artistic performance and developing creative artistic ability should have prerequisites (either one year of introductory coursework or experience approved by the instructor) and should assume proficiency beyond the introductory level. Courses must require an average of a five-period class per week (or equivalent). Work outside of the class must be required (e.g., portfolio/performance preparation, reading, writing, research projects, critical listening/viewing). Advanced VPA courses that are a semester in length will only be considered for the "g" elective area, not the "f" VPA area, which must be satisfied by completing a sequential, yearlong course.